Thomas
GarrettBorn on August 21, 1789 in Upper Darby, PA, Thomas Garrett
is one of the most prominent figures in the history of the Underground
Railroad. He has been called Delaware's greatest humanitarian and is credited
with helping more than 2,700 slaves escape to freedom in a forty year
career as a Station Master.

A white Quaker, whose
family hid runaway slaves in its Delaware County farmhouse when he was
a child, Garrett credited an experience he characterized as transcendental
with directing his life's work toward aiding in the escapes of slaves.
The incident, in which a black servant employed by Garrett's family was
kidnapped and nearly forced into slavery, was a watershed event for the
young Garrett, who would devote his life to the abolitionist cause. It
is thought that his move to Wilmington, Delaware from outside of Philadelphia
was a strategic choice.

Rachel
Garrett

In
1813, he married Margaret Sharpless who died after the birth of their fifth
child in 1828. In 1830, Garrett married Rachel Mendenhall, the daughter
of a fellow Quaker abolitionist from Chester County, Pennsylvania (some
Mendenhalls changed the second 'e' in the name to an 'i' and subsequent
generations returned it to its original spelling). They had one child, Eli,
together and remained married for 38 years. While maintaining an inconsistently
successful hardware business, Garrett acted as a key Station Master on the
eastern line of the Underground Railroad. His activities brought him in
contact with Philadelphia Station Master William Still. The correspondence
between the two men, preserved and published by Still, provides scholars
with an intimate perspective of their struggle and those of countless Agents
and Conductors on the Eastern Line of the Underground Railroad.

Margaret
Garrett

In 1848, Thomas Garrett
and a fellow abolitionist John Hunn were tried and convicted for aiding
in the escape of the Hawkins family, who had been slaves in Maryland.
Both men were given considerable fines which rendered them nearly bankrupt.
In his closing address, Garrett regaled those in the courtroom with a
redoubled commitment to help runaway slaves. Eyewitness accounts detail
the particular contrition of a slave-holding juror from southern Delaware
who rose to shake Garrett's hand and apologize at the close of the impassioned
speech.

Following the Civil
War, Garrett continued his work for minority groups in America. In 1870,
when blacks were given the right to vote by the establishment of the 15th
Amendment, Garrett was carried on the shoulders of black supporters through
the streets of Wilmington as they hailed him "our Moses." Less than one
year later, on January 25, 1871, Thomas Garrett died. His funeral, attended
by many of the black residents of the city, featured a procession of Garrett's
coffin - borne from shoulder to shoulder up Quaker
Hill.

William
Still
Born a free black man in 1821 in Indian Mills, New Jersey, William Still
was an entrepreneur who, despite little formal education, became a successful
businessman, author and important figure on the Eastern Line of the Underground
Railroad. Still's parents were born slaves, but escaped to New Jersey before
his birth. His mother, Charity, on her first attempt to escape slavery,
was captured and returned to the south with the four children with whom
she had fled. On the subsequent, successful attempt, she was forced to leave
her two sons, Peter and Levy (who, years later, died in slavery), behind.
Charity's angry owner sold the boys further south after her escape. William
Still was the last of the fourteen children born to the Stills after they
made their free home in New Jersey.

After marrying Letitia
George in 1847, William Still began working in the Philadelphia Antislavery
Society Offices. Still interviewed every slave he came in contact with
and kept comprehensive records of his accounts even after the passage
of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 when most Agents in the Railroad destroyed
their paperwork. He published his records, which include numerous letters
from Thomas Garrett, in "The Underground Railroad" in 1872. This remains
one of the few, and certainly the most detailed, accounts of the UGRR
to exist. On one extraordinary occasion, Still found himself aiding a
fugitive who they both came to learn was one of his long-lost brothers,
Peter Still!

An active community
leader, Still successfully campaigned to end segregation on Philadelphia
trolley cars in 1867. He started the Berean Presbyterian Church in 1884
and a black-owned Savings & Loan four years later, in addition to many
other socially conscious efforts. William Still died in 1902. His obituary
in The New York Times posited that Still was "one of the best-educated
members of his race, who was known throughout the country as the 'Father
of the Underground Railroad.'"

Born free in 1821
in Indian Mills, NJ

Entrepreneur with
very little formal education

Volunteered for
the Union Army in 1865

Kept comprehensive
records of slave encounters and clandestine activities; published accounts
in 1872

Began working
as a clerk in the Antislavery Society Office in 1847 as a janitor and
mail clerk for $3.75 a week

Of all the names
associated with the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman's is the most
legendary. Called the black "Joan of Arc," she is credited with
personally escorting three hundred slaves to freedom on more than twenty
separate missions. Such missions entailed hundreds of miles of walking,
navigating through rough terrain, outwitting professional slave catchers
and evading hunting dogs.

Harriet
Tubman

Though her age was
never exactly determined, Tubman was born around 1820 near Bucktown, Maryland
and married John Tubman in 1845. John Tubman was a free black man who
ironically did not support his wife's desire to be free. She remained
with him until 1849 when she escaped from the Dorchester County, Maryland
farm where she was enslaved. The first of her twenty missions was believed
to be a trip to Baltimore in 1850 to retrieve her sister and her sister's
children; several subsequent missions rescued other family members. She
earned money for her missions by working in Philadelphia and Cape May,
New Jersey and through the generous support of Station Masters like Thomas
Garrett.

Believing herself
guided by God on her missions, Tubman and her 100% success rate made her
a legend. Prior to and during the Civil War, a $40,000 reward was offered
for her arrest. Tubman settled in Auburn, New York and died there in 1913.

Born about 1820
near Bucktown, Maryland

Completed 19 missions
(plus her own) to escort slaves to freedom

Collaborated
with Garrett and Still on at least eight missions

Helped more than
300 slaves escape, including her parents and siblings

Samuel
D. Burris A free black man who acted as
both an Agent and Conductor on the Railroad, Burris' most remarkable moment
came in the form of his own narrow escape. Because the law allowed for the
sale into slavery of any free black person convicted of aiding in the escape
of slaves, Burris' risk in acting as a conductor on the Underground Railroad
was particularly great. Burris was arrested in Dover, Delaware for absconding
with slaves and was eventually tried and convicted. He was placed on the
auction block in the center of Dover's town green, stripped nearly naked
to facilitate his inspection by slave buyers, and endured the humiliation
of being appraised for sale.

When the auction began and Burris was sold, he was led
away by the buyer who whispered in his ear,"You have been bought with
abolition gold." Burris' purchase had been secretly organized and funded
by the Pennsylvania Antislavery Society. Isaac A. Flint was chosen to
pose as a southern buyer and he simply imitated the actions of the authentic
buyers at the auction. Burris was free; he never ventured south of the
Mason-Dixon line again. He later moved to California for business prospects.

Born in Willow
Grove, Kent County, Delaware in 1808 a free black man

Moved to Philadelphia
as an adult

Conducted fugitives
on the URR through Delaware's free black communities

Abraham
D. Shadd (1801-1882)Abraham
D. Shadd was one of the most important black leaders in Delaware during
the 19th century. His accomplishments in the cause for the abolition of
slavery rank him among national figures. Born in Mill Creek Hundred in
1801, Shadd was a descendant of a German military officer who had settled
in West Chester years before. He married, fathered 13 children and earned
a respectable living as a shoemaker, a trade he learned from his father.
After attending the first National Convention to protest racism in Philadelphia
in September 1830, Shadd went on to attend most major meetings regarding
the abolition of slavery over the course of the next decades including:
the National Negro Convention (1830, '31, '32), the American Antislavery
Society's meeting (1835, '36), and the National Convention (elected president
in 1833). Along with Peter Spencer, he opposed African colonization and
argued for the entitlement to civil rights he felt black Americans should
have as a result of their significant investment in the country's foundation.
Shadd conducted anti-slavery and Underground Railroad activity from his
home in West Chester, Pennsylvania, until his move to Canada in 1851.
The successes of his children include: Mary Ann Shadd (1823-1893), educator,
lawyer and journalist; I.D. Shadd, member ofthe Mississippi Legislature
from 1871 to 1874; Abraham W. Shadd, graduate of Howard Law School; Emaline
Shadd, professor at Howard University.

Mary
Ann ShaddMary Ann Shadd was
a female pioneer in the quest for racial and gender equality in America.
Born in Wilmington, Delaware in 1823, Mary Ann became an important teacher,
newspaper publisher, lawyer, and abolitionist. Appalled by the passage
of the fugitive slave act in 1850, Shadd relocated to North Buxton, Ontario.
There she founded the "Provincial Freeman", becoming the first black woman
to publish a newspaper in North America. Along with Samuel Ringgold Ward,
a runaway from Kent County, Maryland, Shadd helped fugitives find land
granted by the Province to runaways. In 1855 she was the first woman to
speak at the National Negro Convention and eventually testified before
Congress in favor of women's suffrage. In 1883 she obtained a law degree
from Howard University in Washington, D.C. and established a legal practice
dedicated to obtaining equal rights for black Americans. She continued
to write for newspapers and fight for equality until her death in 1893.

Henry
Craig
Henry Craig was considered a trusted friend by Thomas Garrett and William
Still; he aided in their efforts to conduct fugitives to the freedom of
the north. Craig, or 'Harry Craige,' as Garrett referred to him, was a
free black Underground Railroad worker as the following excerpt portrays
him:

"Later the same
day Garrett wrote to Still again saying that Harry Craig [sic] would take
some escaping slave to Marcus Hook. Garrett advised Still to 'take Harry
Craige by the hand as a brother...he is one of our most efficient aids
on the Railroad.'"

A black brickmaker
named Henry Craig, who lived on East Eleventh Street near Poplar Street
in Wilmington, is presumed to be the 'Harry Craige' Garrett mentioned.

Lucretia
MottA Quaker abolitionist
who delivered the eulogy at Garrett's funeral, Mott wrote of the ceremony,
"such a concourse of all sects and colors we never before saw. Thousands--
the street lined for half a mile to the meeting house where he was taken--
and nearly as many outside as in."Mott,
together with her husband, organized the Seneca Falls Movement that
started the Woman's Right Movement in 1848. As a result of her abolitionist
activities, Mott realized that women were also chattel in need of liberation.

Hawkins
FamilyEmeline Hawkins, a
slave owned by Mr. James Glanding of Queen Anne County, Maryland, escaped
during the winter of 1845 with her husband, Samuel, and their six children.
The slave owners had allowed close contact among all the family members.
Some of them actually worked on separate farms and Samuel, a free black
man, worked and owned his own home nearby. They fled in November of 1845
after Samuel's proposal to buy his family's freedom was rebuffed.

They arrived at Ezekiel
Jenkins' home in Camden, Delaware. From there, they trekked to Middletown
to John Hunn's farm during a snowstorm. When a neighbor saw 'unfamiliar
negroes' at Hunn's farm and reported them to the Constable, a search party
arrived to investigate. Samuel, concealed in the barn but guessing that
he had been found out, attempted to run from the barn and was observed
by the search party. Doubling back again, perhaps to gather his family
to flee, Samuel was cornered. Brandishing a knife, Samuel stood threatened
by the Constable (who had a rifle) until John Hunn insisted that each
give up his weapon in order to spare Samuel. Samuel produced his legal
papers from Queen Anne County declaring his freedom, whereupon the party
determined them to be fakes. After one of the men in the party attested
to the fact that Samuel was free, but that he was being accused of absconding
with several slaves in his family, it was decided that everyone must appear
before a magistrate in Middletown, Delaware to settle the matter.

At the magistrate's
offices, one of the men from the Maryland search party drew Samuel aside
and promised him that, if he gave up his two older sons, he would be allowed
to proceed north with his wife and family without them. Samuel agreed
and Hunn, in spite of serious misgivings, wrote to his wife to bring forth
the rest of the family. When the family arrived, they were all taken into
custody and brought to New Castle. The man had lied to Hawkins.

The Sheriff of New
Castle, roused from slumber at midnight on that Saturday as the group
arrived, determined the commitment to be illegal and released the family
into Thomas Garrett's care. Garrett, having been alerted to the situation
earlier that day, arranged a meeting with the Chief Justice of Delaware,
Judge Booth, during which the Judge declared the commitment illegal and
freed the family.

Garrett had readied
a wagon to take the family safely north to Wilmington. After a short stop
at Garrett's home, the Hawkins' were moved 25 miles away to safety, as
Garrett later stated. After days of relentless effort applied by the Maryland
searchers and slave owners and a new and legal commitment produced by
the Sheriff, the Hawkins' were free. Garrett and Hunn were subsequently
sued by the slave owners, found guilty and fined.

John
Hunn
Hunn was a Quaker and Underground Railroad Station Master who partnered
with Thomas Garrett to aid escapees making their way through Delaware.
Hunn was tried and fined along with Garrett in 1848 for helping the Hawkins
family escape in 1845.

John
WalesThe lawyer who defended
Thomas Garrett in the trial of 1848, Wales was an abolitionist born in
July of 1783 in New Haven, Connecticut. A graduate of Yale University,
Wales moved to Delaware. In 1814, Wales became the secretary of the Society
for the Promotion of American Manufacturers, which was designed to promote
and encourage Delaware's manufacturing industry. He served on the committee
to draft the by-laws of the Savings Bank in 1832 and served as the president
of the Wilmington and Brandywine Banks. Along with Garrett, Wales was
Delaware's representative to the First National Convention of the Abolition
of Slavery. He died in 1863 in Wilmington.

James
Bayard
Born in 1799, James Bayard was the Democratic lawyer who prosecuted Garrett
in 1848. Bayard graduated from Union College at the age of 19 and entered
the bar three years later. In 1836, Bayard became the U.S. District Attorney
for President Martin Van Buren and was elected Senator in 1850. He was
re-elected in 1856 and again in 1862. During the latter term, Bayard fought
diligently against the adoption of a proposed test oath which required
Senators to prove their loyalty and patriotism. Bayard's campaign failed.
When the test oath requirement was adopted, Bayard took the oath and promptly
resigned. George R. Riddle succeeded him, but when Riddle died unexpectedly,
Governor Saulsbury appointed Bayard to serve the remainder of the term.
Bayard died on June 13, 1880.

Willard
HallHall served as a judge
in the trial of Thomas Garrett and John Hunn in 1848. Born on Christmas
Eve in 1780, Hall entered Harvard University at the age of 15 to study
law. Hall was appointed Secretary of State in 1813, elected to Congress
in 1816 and Senate in 1822. With John Wales, Hall served on the drafting
committee for the Wilmington Savings Bank; he served as President of the
Bank for 41 years. Hall acted as the President of the Delaware Historical
Society upon its founding in 1864.

Roger
Brooke TaneyBorn in 1777 in Calvert
County, Maryland, Taney studied law in Annapolis with Francis Scott Key.
After joining the House of Maryland Assembly in 1799 and becoming the
leading lawyer in the Maryland bar in 1825, Taney became the Attorney
General of Maryland in 1827. President Andrew Jackson appointed Taney
Secretary of the Treasury in 1831. In 1836, Taney was appointed the Chief
Justice of the United States Supreme Court. He presided over Thomas Garrett's
trial in 1848 and the Dred Scott Case in 1857.